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Official: Iran mulling family visit for U.S. hikers

Iranian authorities are considering a request by
the families of three detained American hikers to visit them in
prison, Iran's top human rights official said Tuesday.

Mohammad Javad Larijani - the secretary general of Iran's High
Council for Human Rights and a member of one of the country's most
influential families - said his office has recommended that the
request be granted.

"We are working on that with the security people and judges," he told reporters in Geneva. "We have recommended that the
families should be able to see them, and I hope that this will be
done."

Larijani said the Swiss ambassador in Tehran made the request to
his office "about 2-3 weeks ago." Switzerland has represented
U.S. consular interests in Iran since Washington and Tehran broke
off diplomatic relations following the Islamic revolution three
decades ago.

Swiss Foreign Ministry officials could not immediately be
reached for comment.

Larijani's comment came at a time of tense relations between
Iran and the United States regarding Tehran's nuclear program and
its crackdown on public opposition to the nation's disputed
presidential election in June.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said
the Islamic republic is becoming a military dictatorship, leading
Iran's foreign minister to say that was a good characterization of
the United States and its government.

The families of the three detained Americans - Shane Bauer,
Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal - say they were hiking in Iraq's
northern Kurdistan region in July when they accidentally crossed
the border into Iran.

Iran's foreign minister said in late December that the three
would be tried in court, but he did not say when that would happen
or what the three would be charged with, other than to say they had
"suspicious aims."

Earlier, the country's chief prosecutor said they were accused
of spying.

Swiss diplomats last saw the hikers at the end of October, but
have not been able to visit them since.

Still, Larijani said the hikers had "full access with the Swiss
Embassy and there were several meetings with them."

Larijani said it was "quite possible" that the Americans had
strayed into Iran by mistake, but that "the security people want
to be sure this is true" because the area they were in was known
for "terrorist activities."